Correction: In the ICIS story headlined “China methanol consumption for olefins to hit 150m tonnes by 2016” dated 28 August 2013, please read in the headline and the first paragraph "…to hit 15m tonnes…" instead of "…to hit 150m tonnes…" A corrected story follows.

SINGAPORE (ICIS)--China's methanol demand to produce olefins is expected to reach 15m tonnes/year by 2016 on the back of new coal-to-olefin (CTO) projects, industry sources said.

In 2012, the methanol consumption volumes of CTO and methanol-to-olefin (MTO) projects stood at almost 4.40m tonnes, according to Chemease, an ICIS service in China. MTO is one of the processes included in the CTO projects.

China’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) has approved four new CTO projects in the first half of 2013 to carry out preliminary construction work, market sources said.